Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

While
Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease is technically
correct, the disease is generally referred to as Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD. Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease is actually a group of diseases
that include emphysema, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis
and oftentimes asthma. If you have any of these diseases,
your doctor may have stated the diagnosis as the more
general Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD
instead of stating the specific disease. Sometimes
additional testing is required before a specific diagnosis
can be arrived at so they may have written COPD or
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as the diagnosis
until the results of the additional tests are provided
by the lab.

My
Mother's COPD Story

My
mother was diagnosed with emphysema and COPD in 2003.
She had smoked for about 40 years so it was no surprise.
No signs of the disease were visible early on, yet
I knew what was coming. I had worked in a hospital
many years earlier and remembered the COPD patients'
repeated visits each time looking a little more disheveled.
I eventually would not see them anymore and knew they
had succumbed to this horrible disease, COPD.

The
Pharmaceutical COPD Drugs

I
hoped that in the years since my hospital work the
pharmaceutical and medical industries had got it together
and solved this big mystery of what was causing the
progression of these chronic obstructive pulmonary
diseases. It was not known whether they were all caused
by the same thing or if each COPD disease was being
caused by something different.

All
they knew was that the drugs they developed would
treat the symptoms and provide temporary relief from
these symptoms until the effects of the drugs wore
off. Then the patient would generally be right back
where they started before taking the drug.

Some
drug manufacturers claimed that their COPD drug would
actually slow the progress of the disease. None claimed
that their drug would stop the disease progression
and not one claimed their drug would cure the disease.

It
seemed the pharmaceutical companies had developed
a number of new drugs and they were making billions
of dollars for their investors, yet the cause of the
progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
remained a big mystery. They knew smoking and second-hand
smoke caused chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
but they could not explain why the disease continued
progressing after the patient quit smoking.

In
the 25 years since I had worked in that hospital they
had not made any headway in explaining what was causing
the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease!
I was shocked! All these new, very expensive, patented
drugs that dont even stop the progress of COPD!

Alternative
COPD Treatments

When
I checked on alternative COPD treatments there was
not much information. Since there is nowhere near
the profits in nutritional supplements as there are
in pharmaceutical drugs, there was very little research
being done in this area. I found a Naturopath named
Dr. Robert Green who kept his father alive for 16
years after his emphysema and COPD diagnosis. His
book, "Natural Therapies for Emphysema and
COPD: Relief and Healing for Chronic Pulmonary Disorders"
details his methods.

Even
though Dr. Green had not solved the big mystery of
why chronic obstructive pulmonary disease progresses,
he had managed to slow some of the effects of emphysema
and COPD for his father. They were the first helpful
alternative COPD treatments I found. Something Dr.
Green said confirmed my suspicion about the prescription
drugs,

"The
advantage of nutrition and other natural therapies
over conventional treatments is that they aim not
just to address symptoms, but also to reduce inflammation,
heal damaged tissue, restore biochemical balance,
and otherwise correct problems at a fundamental level."

This
made so much more sense than what I had been hearing
from the medical industry.

In
regards to the role of nutrition in health and healing,
Dr. Green goes on to say,

"Scientific
research in the field of nutritional biochemistry
continues to reveal new information regarding the
role of nutrients in human metabolism. Today we not
only have a better understanding of the relationship
between nutrition and health, but we also understand
more about how nutritional therapies can help prevent
and eradicate illness.

We
all know that we are supposed to "eat right"
in order to be healthy, but few Americans have been
taught what it means to eat a truly healthful diet.
The consequences of poor eating habits are all around
us. Heart disease, obesity, cancer, and type 2 diabetes
are just some of the health problems that are directly
related to the typical American diet.

COPD
is not caused by a poor diet, but the severity of
its symptoms is definitely influenced by the kinds
of foods we eat."

All
in all, this book was very helpful in that it provided
some of the first natural or alternative treatments
that I used in reversing my mother's emphysema and
COPD. It also caused me to realize that there are
natural and alternative treatments that actually work
and actually make logical sense biochemically.

Cause
of COPD Progression Hypothesis

I
did not realize it at the time but finding these alternative
treatments and others that were even more effective,
and understanding why they were working biochemically,
helped me in eventually developing a hypothesis which,
I believe, describes the cause of the progression
of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its related
diseases such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma
and bronchiectasis.

My
hypothesis as to why COPD progresses long after smoking
cessation is,

“Smoking
introduces a pathogen into the lungs that begins proliferating
immediately and will continue for years, even decades
unless it is systematically attacked and killed.”

Additionally,
as the proliferation of this pathogen progresses,
the body adapts by distending the lungs eventually
causing the condition known as "barrel chest."
The medical and pharmaceutical industries are unable
to explain the presence of barrel chest.

Continual
distention of the lungs over years and possibly decades,
eventually causes the lungs to crowd the stomach making
normal-sized meals impossible. This generally signals
the beginning of "End Stage" or "Stage
IV" and severe weight loss as the patient is
eventually unable to eat enough food to maintain normal
body weight.

At
this stage of the disease, if no alternative treatments
are used, the patient is near the end. Without some
alternative treatment that will interrupt this process,
the patient will continue deteriorating, losing more
weight and requiring additional supplemental oxygen.
We have all seen these people sitting in wheelchairs
with an air hose in their nose, an oxygen tank strapped
to the chair and looking very emaciated like "skin
and bones."

This
explained what I had been observing with my mother's
emphysema and COPD.

Patients
are diagnosed years and even decades after smoking
cessation. Why? The pathogen was still growing and
proliferating in their lungs.

The
drugs do not starve this pathogen or kill it so
they do not stop the progress of COPD and instead,
only mask symptoms temporarily. Some of the drug
manufacturers claim their drug slows the progress
of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease however,
they are the ones that did the testing that determined
this. For me, this nullifies the results they claim.

Quitting
smoking will not prevent COPD or stop the progress
of COPD. Think of the people you know who have quit
smoking only to be diagnosed with COPD years or
even decades later.

My
mother's food intake decreased as her supplemental
oxygen requirement increased. Why? Because the pathogen
was occupying more and more of her lung volume,
her body was adapting by distending her lungs which
were crowding her stomach preventing normal-sized
meals.

Granted
I had no proof this hypothesis was valid yet. I needed
to try the diet on my mother and I. She was now in End
Stage, weighed only 77 pounds and required 4 liters
of supplemental oxygen. She could only sleep for about
an hour before waking in the middle of an exacerbation.
She could only eat about a cup of food at each sitting.
She would tell me that if she tried to eat any more
she couldn't breathe. Why? Because her already crowded
stomach was beginning to crowd her lungs making breathing
even more difficult. I knew she did not have much time
left and I was desperate to try something.